


EXO MAFIA AU

by taexual



Series: EXO by taexual [5]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: EXO AU, F/M, Gang, Gang AU, Mafia AU, exo gang au, exo mafia, exo mafia au, mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 12:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20488559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taexual/pseuds/taexual
Summary: first posted to my tumblr @taexual.may include fluff, angst, and smut. pay attention to the warnings ahead of every chapter![fem!reader]





	1. you start to have feelings for them after an arranged marriage

**Xiumin**

Sometimes you felt as if you were the modern-life Juliet. You were forced to marry the Romeo that you had no feelings for, just so two rival Mafia families could be united. However, even after you moved in with your Romeo, you couldn’t help but still feel the hate that basically coursed through your blood.

You grew up being told that his family was to be hated and now suddenly you were a part of it. It messed with your head.

“Could you stop making that noise?” you asked Minseok with a groan, not realizing that this was the twentieth time you'd asked him to stop doing something in the past hour.

“I’m _breathing,”_ Minseok answered, glaring at you.

“Yeah. It’s loud,” you said. “I’m trying to read here.”

“You read all the time,” he shot back lamely. “Is that your specialty? Do you think that because you’ll read and become a know-it-all, you’ll be able to achieve a higher place in the Mafia hierarchy?

You stared at him with a frown. “What the hell are you talking about? I read because I like to read.”

“See, but that’s not what everyone else thinks.”

“Oh, really? And what do they think?”

“They think you’re pretentious,” Minseok said, not specifying who ‘they’ were. “They think you’re showing off.”

“Showing off what? The fact that I can read?” you raised your eyebrows in a mocking way.

“Showing off in general,” he explained. “You walk around here thinking that you’re better than us.”

You rolled your eyes, not admitting that maybe there was a little truth to his words, and stayed quiet. Minseok smirked, thinking that he won this time.

“Are you one of them?” you asked a few minutes later.

“One of what?” Minseok asked, having already forgotten what you’ve been talking about before.

“One of those people who think that I’m showing off,” you finished.

He considered this and the longer he stayed quiet, the more interested in his answer you were becoming.

“No,” he said finally. “I just think you’re uncomfortable here. I think all of this is new for you and you don’t know how to handle it all, so you handle it the only way you know how. The only way you’ve been _taught_ how. By hating us and appearing snobbish.”

“Oh, so I’m also snobbish.”

“That’s not what I said.”

You knew it wasn’t. You were just trying to win some time to regain your balance after he had openly admitted that he didn’t think you were stuck-up. It was nice to hear that at least one person in this house held somewhat warm feelings towards you.

“So, do you think this will work?” you asked again. “I mean us. Our marriage. God, I sound like I’m forty.”

Minseok laughed. You haven’t heard him laugh before and you’d thought of him as one of the most serious people you’ve ever met, but when he was smiling, he looked almost ten years younger, and an unexpected thought flashed through your mind.

You liked his laugh. You wanted to see him laugh. Hell, you wanted to _make_ him laugh.

“I think anything can work,” Minseok said, going back to his serious self suddenly. “Even our marriage. Though right now it’s the furthest thing from an actual marriage I’ve ever seen.”

It was your turn to start laughing. “We are talking, though. So that’s a start.”

Minseok smiled at this, sending your brain into another overdrive. “Took us long enough.”

* * *

**Suho**

Junmyeon wasn’t a bad person. Sure, he could kill in cold blood if he had to, but other than that, he was great. You knew you could have gotten a husband that was so much worse, so although, you were still awkward around him, you tried to get used to him. You were married, after all.

“Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” he asked you one night when both of you were eating dinner in the spacious dining room of your manor.

“I have training at 10,” you answered. “But other than that, no. Why?”

“I was thinking maybe we could go out tomorrow night,” Junmyeon said in a voice so official, it sounded as if he was proposing a business offer and not asking you out on a date.

“Okay,” you said, not daring to look up from your plate, your face suddenly oddly warm.

You had no doubt that Junmyeon could tell that you got flustered every time you talked to him and yet he never called you out on it, making you appreciate him even more.

“Can I tell you something?” Junmyeon said.

You finally raised your eyes and nodded, slowly.

“But promise me you won’t get upset,” he added.

You nodded again, wordlessly promising, despite not really knowing what to expect from him.

“Last week one of my friends died,” he said. “We got attacked by some wanna-be gangsters and they shot him in the chest multiple times before I could react.”

“Oh, my God,” you gasped, despite promising him not to get upset. “I’m so sorry, Junmyeon.”

He nodded, acknowledging your compassion. “But the important thing, however, is what he said right before he died. He was married but his marriage was pretty similar to ours.”

You quickly understood that this meant he was in an arranged marriage and therefore, not particularly close to his wife.

“Anyway, so right before he died, he asked me to tell his mother that he loved her,” Junmyeon continued. “So, I asked him, ‘What about your wife?’ and he told me – and I remember this part vividly – that he wasn’t sure if he even knew what his wife’s name was.”

This story raised a million questions in your head, the most prominent of which was, _did Junmyeon think all arranged marriages were like that?_

Did he think two people in an arranged marriage pretended to be married just for show and, possibly, power, but they never actually loved each other?

This made you sad. You didn’t know why but you didn’t want him to think that way. It was a sad attitude and the last thing you wanted was for him to be sad.

“I don’t want a marriage like that,” Junmyeon said after a short pause. This jump-started your heart so hard that even your hands started to shake.

You were afraid to ask him what he meant by that, but you didn’t have to because he continued.

“And I can promise you that I’ll do everything I can to make sure our marriage – although against our wishes – is as great as it can be,” he said. “We might or might not be soulmates, but that doesn’t matter. We’ll work on it one date at a time. We won’t be just another statistic that proves that people in arranged marriages hate each other.”

Your entire body filled with warmth at this and suddenly you felt like a child on Christmas day. Sure, you weren’t in love with Junmyeon yet. But you knew that one day you’d be.

“I believe you,” you told him with a sincere smile. “I believe that we’ll make it work.”

* * *

**Lay**

The wedding wasn’t devastating. It was truly kind of bearable. You weren’t the biggest fan of Yixing, but you weren’t really against him either.

That is, until rival Mafia members placed a bomb in your parents’ house, killing them both, along with a couple of other relatives. Your little brother was still at school but the sight of his house burning left him shaken up. His crying voice, when he called you to tell you what happened, haunted you to this day.

You fought for the rights to look after your brother and won (with Yixing’s help, though you refused to admit it), and thus, he moved in with you. But he wasn’t the same. He wasn’t your little brother anymore. He closed off and only talked to you when it was absolutely necessary.

Yixing could see that you were upset but he didn’t know what to do about it. He tried to get you to open up but you ignored him no matter what he did, unintentionally hurting his feelings in the process. Somehow, you just couldn’t bear to look at him anymore, feeling as if it was his fault you weren’t at your parents’ house to protect them from the bomb.

And then one day, you woke up to screams coming from outside. With your heart nearly beating out of your chest, you walked to the window overlooking the backyard of your house to see what was making the noise. You had to sit down at the sight in front of you.

It was your little brother and Yixing, both chasing each other with water guns, reenacting a scene from a gangster movie that you have never seen. They were screaming cheerfully, laughing, and rolling around in the grass, their clothes completely soaked from the water already.

You didn’t think you could name a moment where your brother looked happier than he did right then, playing with Yixing.

Not losing the smile the entire morning, you found your little brother, when he finally returned home and changed into a different outfit.

“Hey!” you said happily. “Did you have fun this morning?”

“Lots!” your brother replied, giving you a smile that you haven’t seen in ages. You almost started to cry. “Yixing said he’ll teach me how to use real guns soon!”

“Oh?” you stopped smiling at this.

“Hey!” Yixing’s voice was suddenly heard down the hall. “Did I not tell you to keep it a secret?”

Your little brother gasped, not expecting him to overhear this. “I’m sorry, I just got so excited! You’ll still teach me, right?”

Yixing smiled, messing up your brother’s hair when he reached him. “Of course, I will. If your sister doesn’t kill me before I get a chance to do that.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” your little brother said confidently. “She’s a good person.”

You saw Yixing smile at you but you were too occupied with your brother’s good mood to pay attention to anything else. Finally, once your brother ran off to prepare for breakfast, you raised your eyes to meet Yixing’s.

“Why are you doing this?” you asked with genuine curiosity.

“What, befriending your brother?” Yixing asked. You nodded. “I like him. He’s a cool guy. Also, you’re my wife and his legal guardian. That makes me his guardian, too. Maybe not by law, but by marriage, then. He’s my responsibility as well.”

You softened even more. “I couldn’t get him to open up ever since the tragedy happened and you just… he seems to really like you.”

“He does like me,” Yixing said, winking teasingly. “Unlike his sister.”

You scoffed. “Don’t make assumptions about things you don’t know.”

“Oh? So you _do_ like me?”

“We’re married, Yixing.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

It was your turn to tease him. “Some questions are better left unanswered.”

And you walked away from him, heading to the kitchen, while he continued to stand there, confused about what you were feeling for him. He failed to realize that you were just as confused about your feelings as he was.

The feelings were neutral before, you were sure of that. And yet seeing him today forced some kind of creatures to come out to play in your stomach. You’ve heard people call them butterflies, but to you, it felt more like tiny t-rexes who clawed at your intestines whenever Yixing smiled at you.

* * *

**Baekhyun**

You were the real black sheep of the family. You couldn’t fight (seriously, you broke your foot every time you attempted to kick something), you couldn’t interrogate people, you had no talent to make new deals, and you couldn’t use guns. You thought your parents would disown you, and in a way, they kind of did – by giving you away to the boy from a different Mafia family.

Afraid to make your new husband and his family see how useless you were, you avoided every single job assigned to you. You pretended to be sick. Then, you just disappeared for a few days and stayed at your friend’s house. Then, you _actually_ got sick.

Finally, four months after the wedding, Baekhyun had had enough of this.

“What’s the problem?” he asked you. “You don’t want to work with me? With my family?”

You have not prepared for him to confront you about this, although you really should have seen it coming. Sooner or later, someone was bound to notice that you were not doing any work that was assigned to you.

“N-no,” you said, slowly. “I do. Of course, I do. I mean, I have to.”

“’Have to’ and ‘want to’ are two very different things,” Baekhyun said. “I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do but you’re… you’re not doing anything at all. And you haven’t talked to anyone about it. Like, is something wrong? Do you just not want to do anything because that’s fine—”

“I want to do something,” you interrupted him confidently but then your voice faded. “I just don’t know how.”

Baekhyun heard you. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t do anything,” you said. “I start something and then I ruin everything. My family used to jokingly say that they should lock me up in a tower Rapunzel-style. Maybe that way I’d manage to find at least one thing I’d be good at.”

“That’s not a funny joke,” Baekhyun said with a straight face. “And I’m sure your family just didn’t have any patience. Come on, tell me one thing that they thought you were bad at.”

“Well, firearms, for starters,” you said. “I can’t fire a gun. My aim is _way_ off.”

“Good!” Baekhyun said and then saw your frown. “I mean, it’s good that you told me. Now I know what’s up. Be up at seven tomorrow.”

“What? Why?”

“I’ll train you,” he said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. “I’ll help you learn everything you’ve always wanted to learn. And I can already promise I will never bring you down, no matter how badly you do anything.”

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” you warned him.

“Yeah, they told me that before I married you,” Baekhyun said with a small smile. “But I guess I like challenges.”

For some reason, you smiled back. It would have been easy to find offense in his words but you knew they were true. You truly were a challenge (but then again, wasn’t everyone?) but no one ever bothered to take this challenge on before. And now this concerned boy – that was, apparently, told not to marry you – was more than ready to work on this challenge with resilience until he completed it.

For the first time in your life, you actually had hope that Baekhyun will turn out to be the person with enough patience to handle your every fail and praise your every win. You’ve never had a person like that in your life. Maybe you finally found him.

* * *

**Chen**

You strictly refused to ride cars. Your husband (you refused to call him your husband, too. Explaining to people that your parents _forced_ you to marry, was embarrassing, so you chose not to talk about it at all) protested against this, saying that it was unsafe for you to walk everywhere but you ignored him. The air was already as polluted as it was, and you could never understand how people had enough patience to be stuck in traffic and not punch anyone.

So, yes, you preferred to walk, no matter the distance.

Thing was, wherever you walked, you always carried your earphones and listened to music at full volume, being completely oblivious to your surroundings. More than once, you missed your destination because you were humming along to a song, imagining yourself in a music video.

One particular Friday, you were in a restaurant, patiently listening to one of the Mafia heads from a different country. He spoke with a huge accent so it was hard to understand him. On top of that, you kept spacing out, making it even harder not to lose track of what he was saying.

Suddenly, you saw a person with a black coat and a face mask enter the restaurant. He passed the hostess - who politely asked him to take the mask off - and headed to the table next to yours, claiming he had reserved it. The hostess just gave up and brought him a menu.

That’s when you turned your head back to your companion since he had asked you a question. You had no idea what he had asked, but just as you were about to think of something to answer, you heard a scream.

“Look out!”

Startled, you turned to look at the source of the noise but you couldn’t understand where it came from because another noise interrupted the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant.

_A shot._

It didn’t take you long to find who fired the shot. You turned your head to the left and were met face-to-face with Jongdae, who had just shot the man with the facemask next to you.

Before confusion clouded your brain, you managed to see that the masked man had a gun in his hand, too. Absolutely baffled, you turned back to look at Jongdae who had already made his way to you.

“Your meeting is over,” he said, glaring at your guest and then looking back at you. “I’m taking you home.”

“Jongdae—”

“Get up,” he said sternly. “We’re leaving.”

Apologizing to your confused companion, you followed the angry Jongdae out of the restaurant. Once you saw him open the door of his car for you to get in, you stopped.

“You know I don’t—”

“Do you know who the guy with the mask was?” Jongdae asked right away, looking as if he was already expecting you to protest.

“No,” you said. “Should I?”

“He was stalking you. For at least a week,” Jongdae said.

You gasped, feeling your stomach drop. “What? That makes no sense.”

“It makes a whole lot of sense,” he continued, not losing the angry expression on his face. “You walk everywhere and you’re never aware of your surroundings. That makes you an easy target. I assume he chose the restaurant to kill you in because he wanted more attention.”

“He was going to kill me..?”

“Obviously. That’s why I killed him first.”

You stayed quiet, watching the man in front of you and trying to grasp the fact that he had just saved your life from a stalker that you didn’t even know you had.

“Get in the car,” Jongdae said, then. “You’re never walking anywhere alone again.”

“You can’t say that,” you protested again, but still stepped into the car.

“I can say anything I want. Your life was in danger,” he told you before closing the door of your car. “I’m not letting that happen again.”

While he jogged around the car to sit behind the wheel, you could only think about one thing. Jongdae had protected you. He _saved_ you. And maybe it was just the adrenaline, but you felt as if he didn’t do it as a favor. He did that because you were his wife. And all of a sudden, you were no longer embarrassed of this title. You were _proud_ of it.

* * *

**Chanyeol**

You only acted like you were married in public. At home, you stayed on separate floors and barely said anything if you accidentally ran into each other in the hallway. You weren’t sure if you liked it that way but Chanyeol wasn’t showing that much interest to act like an actual married couple, and you weren’t going to suggest doing that, either. Call it pride, if you’d like.

One night, though, on the birthday of Chanyeol’s father, all of your pride flew out of the window.

You arrived at the party a little late because your dress had a malfunction and Chanyeol was too impatient to wait until one of the seamstresses helped you fix it, so he went there alone. He didn’t even notice you when you finally arrived because he was busy. Busy entertaining at least five different girls that you’ve never seen before.

Feeling your heart drop to your stomach and then jump right back up again as anger and irrational jealousy mixed in your blood, you made your way towards him.

“Good evening, ladies,” you announced yourself, concentrating on the girls and making all of them turn to look at you. “Have you tasted the lamb salad that they’re serving over there, at the other side of the room?”

All five of the girls exchanged glances and then turned to look at Chanyeol, who was watching you with a confused and a slightly amused expression.

“No,” one of the girls answered you. “We actually haven’t. We’ve been—”

“Oh, fantastic! I’m sure you’ll love the taste of it,” you said. The five girls still didn’t move, obviously not catching your hints. Finally, you lost your patience. “That’s your turn to scatter. Get lost. _Fuck __off.”_

With shocked faces, all five of them quickly moved away from you and Chanyeol, and quickly disappeared into the crowd of people.

“What the _hell_ was that about?” Chanyeol asked you right away.

You looked at him with innocent eyes. “What do you mean? I offered those girls to try the lamb salad across the room. It’s really good.”

Chanyeol resisted the urge to smirk. “You told them to fuck off.”

“Did I?” you continued to feign ignorance. “It must have slipped out by accident.”

“By accident, huh?” he said, suddenly standing closer to you. “I was pretty sure you were jealous.”

“What?” you said, your heart hammering in your chest at his close proximity. “I wasn’t jealous.”

Chanyeol hummed as he slowly leaned closer until you could feel his breath on your neck, forcing you to shiver involuntarily.

“It’s a shame,” he whispered. “I love it when you get jealous.”

He pulled away before you understood what happened, and walked away with a smirk, his cologne lingering in the air around you. You let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding and watched him walk away from you. Suddenly, he turned his head over his shoulder, quickly meeting your eyes, and winking, while every girl in the room watched him.

You weren’t jealous. You were so much _more_ than that.

* * *

**D.O**

He didn’t look very dangerous and yet people were afraid of him. They crossed the street when they saw him. They closed their windows when they heard him drive by. They avoided him in every way possible.

You weren’t an exception, although, legally, you were his wife and he wasn’t supposed to ever hurt you. However, you couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t impossible. If he could kill helpless people that crossed him, he could kill you, too.

And that was why for the first few months after the wedding, you slept in a different room that you locked every night.

One night, however, you heard a lot of suspicious noise downstairs and decided to investigate. Kyungsoo was supposed to be out working the whole weekend, so you grabbed your gun before you walked down the stairs. Not wanting to startle the potential intruder, you didn’t turn the light on. Slowly, you walked down the hallway and then stopped when you saw a silhouette at the end of the hallway. It looked like a man and he had his back turned to you.

“Freeze!” you yelled, not finding a better word on such short notice.

The man did just that. But then he turned around a second later and you almost fired.

You were glad you didn’t, though.

“W-what is going on?” Kyungsoo’s voice called out and your body had gone cold. “What are you doing awake?”

“I…” you lowered your gun, immediately. “I’m sorry. I thought someone was in the house. I-I’m really sorry.”

You saw him slowly make his way towards you, and your entire body started to shake.

He stopped a few feet away from you, however, and turned the lightswitch on the wall next to him, finally illuminating the hallway.

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, carefully watching you.

You swallowed, not knowing what the right answer to this question would be. Your silence was enough for Kyungsoo to understand everything.

“Why?” he asked. “Why are you afraid of me? I could never hurt you.”

“Y-yes, you could,” you said in a quiet voice, looking down.

Immediately, he lifted your chin, so your eyes met again. “No. My job is to protect you. And to teach you not to say ‘freeze’ when you see strangers in your house, but that’s hardly the point right now. Point is, it hurts me to know that you’re afraid of me.”

It _hurt_ him?

You stared at him as if in a daze.

“Please don’t be afraid of me,” he said, gently moving his hand from your chin to caress your cheek. _“Please.”_

He touched you as if you were the most fragile piece of china ever created. He looked at you as if you’d break if someone glared at you.

And suddenly, you couldn’t understand how you didn’t see it before. He wasn’t dangerous and scary. He was _human._ And he’d never hurt you.

* * *

**Kai**

Your domestic life was far from exciting. After you got married, it felt as though you became the main character in the movie Housewife By Day, Wife of a Gangster By Night.

Although you weren’t a big fan of what Jongin did, you stayed quiet about it. Not just because he was your husband and your father warned you beforehand to put up with whatever your husband did, but also because the sight of Jongin with a gun was enough to cause your heartbeat to speed up.

You didn’t think much of this, though. So you got excited after seeing a guy with a gun, so what? He was an attractive person and frankly, you were always into bad boys. It was normal. No actual feelings were there.

Or so you told yourself.

One day, you asked him to borrow his car, because yours had broken down, so you could go to the store to buy some vegetables for dinner (cooking was always your hobby and although Jongin insisted you let the professional chef do the job, you never listened) but Jongin had other plans.

“I’ll drive you,” he said. “Just wait a second.”

You were about to protest and tell him that there was no need for two people to go to the store but he got up from the chair and ran to the garage before you could open your mouth.

A couple of minutes later, you heard someone signal you outside, so, grabbing your jacket, you walked out of the house and then stopped dead at the sight in front of you.

Jongin was leaning against his favorite custom-made, matte black Harley-Davidson with a grin on his face and a helmet in his hands.

“Hop on,” he told you.

“Jongin… I literally need to buy carrots,” you said. “I’m not driving to the supermarket on a motorcycle.”

“Carrots or drugs, doesn’t matter. You’re no longer just a simple city girl,” he said. “You’re my wife now. And my wife rides in style.”

“Can I ride in style in an actual car? Like, with seat-belts on?” you continued, not moving from the same spot.

Jongin laughed. “Come on, don’t pretend you don’t want to ride it. Feel the wind in your hair and the material of my jacket when you wrap your arms around me when I drive.”

You swallowed deeply at that last part, your stomach already burning with excitement.

“Come here,” he said, patting the back of the motorcycle.

And he didn’t have you tell you again. You groaned dramatically, forcing him to laugh, and grabbed the helmet from him before getting on the back of the motorcycle. You didn’t do anything with your hands, though, almost afraid to touch him.

“Do you want to fall off?” Jongin asked loudly, as he brought the engine of the Harley to life.

“Not really,” you answered just as loudly.

“Then hold onto me,” he asked loudly. “I know you want to.”

You knew he smirked at that last part but you couldn’t see it because he had his back turned to you. After whispering a quick ‘fuck you’, you wrapped your arms around him at the same second that he pulled out of the driveway of the house and sped down the street.

The feeling of him right there, under your fingerprints, while the two of you flew down the street, the scenery blurring around you, was enough to break you away from the lie you’ve been living in.

The feelings were there. _All_ the damn feelings were there.

* * *

**Sehun**

You knew every Mafia family had their own traditions. Your family was a little more conservative in comparison to Sehun’s, which is why, your parents quietly cried when they had to give you away, while one of Sehun’s great-aunts sobbed as if he was going to his death. And it really should have been the other way around, considering that you were about to enter a clan of people who showed their loyalty to their Mafia family in a different way than you were used to.

You made a vow in front of the other family members, while Sehun’s family got tattoos.

They didn’t force a needle on you right after the wedding though, they gave you some time to adjust. And still, the first couple of months were terrifying to you.

Sehun tried to relieve your stress of living in a new place by introducing you to every family member he had and then showing embarrassing pictures of them in the family albums. It worked for a short while and you truly felt a little bit more relaxed, until the day you were supposed to get a tattoo came.

What you didn’t know, however, was that traditionally, the husband was supposed to give his wife the tattoo of the family symbol. You only found out about this, when you were already sitting the leather-covered chair, waiting for your doom. That is, the tattoo.

“Is it going to hurt?” you asked Sehun while he cleaned your wrist with rubbing alcohol.

“A little,” he said, honestly. “I’ll try to be gentle, though, I promise.”

“It’s not you I’m afraid of,” you told him. “It’s the needle.”

Sehun gave you an encouraging smile. “I’ll stop the needle if the pain gets too much for you, okay? Just tell me. Or give me a sign, like a nod or something.”

You nodded.

“What, it hurts already?” he tried to joke but saw you nod again. He released your wrist immediately. “Does it really hurt? Maybe you’re allergic to—”

“No, Sehun,” you said, then. “I’m just terrified of this. I’m afraid it’s going to hurt even more when I’m this scared.”

“Well, relaxing definitely helps,” Sehun said. “I’ve practiced this before and it’s much easier to tattoo a person who’s not so tense.”

“Well, I can’t relax. So, you’ll have to manage.”

He smiled again. “I’ll manage. I just wish you weren’t so uncomfortable.”

“I don’t have a choice but to do this,” you said. “So I have to get over my fear.”

Sehun took your wrist again and you thought the tattoo process was about to begin, but instead of a needle, you felt his fingers softly caress the skin of your wrist.

“You’re still part of the family, with or without the tattoo,” Sehun told you sincerely.

You watched him for a moment and then inhaled deeply. “I know. But I want you to do this.”

He felt a little better after hearing you say this, so he grabbed the needle with a lot more confidence. He knew he could draw the symbol perfectly, he’s done it before. But the fact that you were so nervous, made _him_ nervous.

And yet, even when the needle came in contact with your skin, you didn’t feel any excruciating pain that you had expected. You weren’t sure if it was because Sehun kept checking up on you every few seconds and talking to you about the funny things that happened to other people when they were getting their tattoos, or because your hand had simply gone limp.

Either way, you enjoyed this process a lot more than you expected. 

The way Sehun kissed your tattoo once he had finished it and wrapped a bandage around it, made you realize that although at first, you had feared to get the symbol of the Family (because you knew you weren’t related to any of them by blood and the divorce rate was still pretty high), now you were ready to do anything, as long as Sehun would be there to hold your hand through it.


	2. they start to have feelings for you after an arranged marriage

**Xiumin**

Minseok low-key had feelings for you ever since the first time he saw you, or rather, saw _pictures_ of you.

Right after his parents announced to him that they’ve found a bride for him, the first thing Minseok did was cringe at the name they used, and then he pulled his laptop out, because we _do_ live in a modern age, and he really wanted to see what you looked like.

He wasn’t a shallow person; he knew very well that it wasn’t just the appearance that mattered, but as soon as he opened your Facebook page, he froze, staring at your picture, and quietly thinking to himself, “yes. I definitely see myself spending the rest of my life with someone who looked like that.”

Then, however, you moved in with him after the wedding and proved to him that not only were you absolutely beautiful, but you also had an attitude that made him really want to kick things sometimes.

You barely even talked to him, and if you did, it was to tell him to stop doing something that annoyed you. Like breathing.

And Minseok would have been lying if he would have said that your attitude didn’t turn him on. He never acted upon the feelings you caused him, though. At least, not until you grew more accustomed to him, and didn’t look like you were going to shoot him in the head if someone handed you a gun.

Actually, even his own parents were surprised by your hatred for them, though Minseok thought it was normal. Your families have, after all, been rivals up until your marriage to him, so naturally, you needed some time to get used to this. Which is why, Minseok, without you knowing, always defended you to his parents, who claimed that maybe they made the wrong choice by having their heir marry you.

Somehow, even when you were glaring at him from across the room, he knew that this marriage was the right choice and he patiently waited until you realized it, too.

* * *

**Suho**

Junmyeon, being the gentleman that he was, always allowed you to do everything first: enter a room, sit at the table, fall in love…

He always treated you like his wife but it took him a little longer to realize that you weren’t just his wife because he had no choice but to marry you. You were also his wife because he had _feelings_ for you.

You went on countless dates together, and the scenario was almost always the same: Junmyeon would hold the door open for you, he’d help you take your coat off, he’d help you read the menu if it was in a foreign language (honestly, up to this day, it was still a mystery to you how he was capable of speaking so many languages), and he always looked after you.

“Is your food cold?” he asked one time when he noticed that you weren’t eating. “Because I can send it back to the chef.”

“No, I’m just not hungry for some reason,” you replied, shrugging your shoulders.

Junmyeon panicked immediately. “Why? What’s wrong? Are you sick? Do you want me to take you to the hospital? Do you want to go home?”

A little taken aback by this avalanche of questions, you laughed awkwardly.

“No, I’m okay,” you said. “But your sudden freak-out mode is starting to freak me out, too.”

“Oh,” Junmyeon said, looking down and leaning back in his chair.

It took him a moment to understand why he became so concerned all of a sudden, but then once he did, the answer was clear as day: he was falling in love with you.

“What’s with the smile?” your voice woke him up from his dream world, and he raised his head to look at you.

“Huh? It’s nothing,” he said, waving his hand in an attempt to dismiss this topic for now because he still needed time for this new revelation to settle in his mind.

* * *

**Lay**

He met you a couple of times before the wedding, and it was obvious to him that you didn’t like him particularly much. You didn’t go out of your way to spite him, though, and that was enough for him to believe that maybe this arranged marriage would work… in the long run.

He hadn’t had time to develop any feelings for you during those couple of times that he saw you, and even if he wanted to, he probably would have tried to stop himself from crushing on you. He didn’t want to wear his heart on his sleeve when he knew there was a chance you’d never feel anything for him.

But then the wedding came. He was standing there, by the altar, feeling like this was the most stressful thing he’s ever done, even if his line of work included shooting people and putting his life on the line. In fact, he would have much rather been in a shoot-out with a rival Mafia family, than stand here, in front of everyone he knew, and wait until he married a girl he didn’t even know.

But then you started to walk down the aisle and his heart got caught in his throat.

Not understanding the sudden surge of emotions, he just watched you approach him. With shaky hands, he helped you take the veil off, and the way his heart squeezed when he finally saw your face let him know that he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

The realization that you were _truly_ the one for him, calmed Yixing down enough to actually enjoy and savour every moment of this because God knows what kind of challenges awaited him after the wedding. The only good thing was that he knew he’d have you with him all through it.

* * *

**Baekhyun**

Baekhyun had actually tried to stop himself from developing feelings for you.

When you first moved into his house, you were really closed off and said no to every single thing anyone from his family offered you. Even if it was work-related. So, naturally, Baekhyun, who thought that a relationship with no love was useless, was afraid that if he put his heart on the line for you, you’d grab it and break it.

But then you admitted that the reason why you weren’t participating in anything his family did was because you were afraid to fail, and Baekhyun felt his whole world light up again.

He promised you he’d train you and he kept his promise.

The two of you were in a shooting range his family had. You were holding a pistol in your hand while Baekhyun stood behind you and moved your hand so that you’d hit the target when you fired. And every time he guided you, your aim was perfect. But once he let go of you, you hit walls and instantly flinched, fearing that a bullet will ricochet and hit one of you.

“I told you to wear a bullet-proof vest,” you told Baekhyun with a sigh after you’ve missed your target for the fifth time in a row. “Now you make me worry about your health every time I miss.”

“Good!” Baekhyun replied with a teasing smile. “Maybe the fear of killing me will help your aim.”

“Ha ha,” you replied dryly. “I thought we came here so you could help me, not mock me.”

“I am helping you,” he said, walking behind you, so he could help you again. “But it seems to me like every time I tell you what to do, you’re not listening to me.”

Your face flushed. “I am listening. It’s just that… you’re distracting.”

“How am I distracting?” Baekhyun asked, clueless to your flustered state because he was too focused on positioning the gun in your hand in the right way.

“You’re really… close,” you whispered the last word.

But Baekhyun heard you. And he immediately raised his eyes to meet yours, finally noticing your rosy cheeks and a shy smile.

And that’s exactly when he stopped holding himself back and just gave in to the inevitable. Trying not to fall in love was the most stupid thing he’s ever tried, which is probably why – as he watched you try to concentrate on his words and not on his close proximity – he realized that he had failed.

His heart was already yours.

* * *

**Chen**

Jongdae had a protective nature, so the need to always keep you safe came naturally to him. Needless to say, he wasn’t a big fan of the fact that you preferred walking instead of driving. This made it more difficult for him to protect you.

He told you numerous times to just ask his driver to take you somewhere, but you constantly refused, and eventually, this came back to bit you in the ass.

Jongdae was the one who found out that a man was stalking you. He didn’t know who this man was, but he didn’t need to; he was going to remove the threat before he hurt you. However, before that, he wanted to teach you a lesson.

Jongdae followed you to the restaurant that you had a meeting in, and carefully staked out by the entrance so he could spot your stalker when he inevitably showed up. While he waited, Jongdae sneaked some looks into the restaurant through the window, and clocked you, talking to a man twice your age and obviously struggling to understand what he was saying. Jongdae recognized the man as the head of a foreign Mafia family, and for some reason, he realized he didn’t like the fact that you were in the company of another man.

Then, he saw a masked man enter the restaurant, and his heart rate sped up immediately.

Not to cause any suspicion, for a moment, Jongdae just watched as the man circled around the hostess and chose a table next to yours. Just as the man sat down and got his hand into the pocket of his coat, Jongdae burst into the restaurant, firing his gun at the same time that the masked-man pulled his pistol out.

Jongdae hadn’t expected your stalker to actually try to kill you, but now that he thought of it, it really did seem kind of obvious. Why else would he follow you for a week?

But this thought didn’t make Jongdae feel better. If anything, it made him sick. Jongdae suddenly couldn’t believe he let this man stalk you for a whole week and he didn’t kill him just because he wanted to teach you a lesson that this was dangerous.

Well, your frightened eyes told him that you learned your lesson. And Jongdae definitely learned his. He was never going to risk your life like that again because whether his protective nature was natural, or the result of his ever-growing feelings for you, he was still going to take care of you in every way he knew how.

* * *

**Chanyeol**

He got tired of waiting until your dress was fixed, so he had left for the ball on his own. Obviously, he was curious to see what you looked like in a gown that took _ages_ to make, but he was also really impatient.

The second he entered the ball in his father’s honor, girls started to circle him. This always tended to happen. Chanyeol was a nice person, and just like everyone else, he enjoyed the attention he received, so he didn’t shoo any of those girls away, choosing to enjoy their company instead.

But everything they said completely flew over his head because in a few moments, the most beautiful girl he’s ever laid his eyes on walked through the door. It took Chanyeol a couple of moments to realize that this girl – who seemed to be illuminating the whole room and making heads turn as she walked – was his wife.

And she was angrily making her way towards him.

Not losing the amused expression, Chanyeol watched as you not-so-subtly told the girls around him to fuck off.

He swore he has never received a better compliment.

The most beautiful girl in the room, no competition, was jealous of the few girls – whose faces Chanyeol forgot as soon as he saw you – who were talking to him. He felt pride mix with amusement in his stomach, and he couldn’t resist the urge to smirk.

Watching you get possessive over him, made him feel like a winner. You were definitely the prize here, that was obvious to everyone. And you were _his._

That was, Chanyeol realized, his biggest achievement.

* * *

**D.O**

Kyungsoo had a feeling that just like nearly everyone else on this planet, you were afraid of him, too. And it really upset him because he would never even think about hurting you.

You were the most innocent thing he’s ever seen. Of course, you knew how to manipulate people and if you really tried, you could definitely kick someone’s ass, but you were _so_ small and fragile in Kyungsoo’s eyes that he just wanted to keep you in a bulletproof room so you were always safe.

When Kyungsoo scared you one night and you literally pulled a gun on him, not realizing that it was him, he truly felt hurt.

It was like all of this time he only speculated that you were afraid of him, but then he turned around and you looked even more scared than before you knew it was him.

The pain he felt of having not yet proven to you that you’re the last person he’d ever lay a hand on, was indescribable and he felt suffocated by it. But along with it came the realization that he’s never had a person like that before. He had a reputation of hurting those who crossed him for a reason, and now, all of a sudden, he had you.

His wife. His reality. His _love._

He took a deep breath and moved his hand to gently touch your cheek. “Please don’t be afraid of me.”

This was the first time he said those words to anyone and he meant it. Although he didn’t tell you he loved you outright, the sincerity in his voice let you know that his feelings for you ran deeper than you could have ever imagined.

* * *

**Kai**

Jongin was somewhat cautious around new people. Even if one of these people were his wife. A few months after the wedding, he thought he had already gotten used to you, but then he found out you had a hobby that brought all of his paranoia up.

You loved to cook.

And it took you two months to find the courage to offer to cook him dinner. Not wanting to hurt your feelings, he agreed, although he knew it would take him every single ounce of strength to take even the smallest bite.

Jongin watched every move you made when you started to cook and you were truly starting to feel a little uncomfortable but you tried to tell yourself that he just wanted to guess what you were cooking. In reality, Jongin intensely eyed the products you used, because he couldn’t let go of the fact that his father died when his second wife poisoned his meal.

The wife was dead – obviously – but so was his father. And ever since he found out what happened, he has never eaten anything other people have cooked, unless someone tasted his food first.

But there he was, almost two years after his father’s death, sitting at the dinner table, a plate of freshly-cooked food in front of him, and your expectant face on his right.

“Go on, try it,” you encouraged. “No need to look like I’m trying to poison you.”

You tried to lighten the mood with this innocent joke but Jongin took a deep breath and finally raised his fork to his mouth.

Right before Jongin swallowed the food, he realized why his father was never suspicious of his wife’s cooking. Why he never expected to be poisoned.

It was because he loved her.

And as Jongin waited for a moment after having swallowed the food, he realized that he was stepping over his long-time fear because he didn’t want to make you sad. He would have rather experienced the effect of poisoned food first-hand than disappoint you by not trying the food that you made at all.

And this made no sense to him, but he never believed that everything had to make sense, anyway. So, he rolled with it.

So what if you decided to poison him?

The smile on your face when you saw him take a bite would have been worth it.

* * *

**Sehun**

He liked you. It was as simple as that. He never felt any hate towards you, he just simply liked you. _Platonically._

He knew you had a hard time getting used to being married and living in his house, so he did everything he could to make it a little more bearable for you. On top of that, he felt kind of guilty about not having introduced you to his family’s tradition before the wedding.

Every single member of his family had to have the symbol of the family tattooed on their wrist. It was the husband who tattooed the wife, and it was the way it always was, but Sehun still felt like they should have made an exception for you. He managed to reach a compromise with his parents – instead of getting a tattoo right after your wedding, you’d get one once you finally adjusted to this new life.

However, the day you were supposed to get a tattoo came sooner than he expected.

Seeing you shake in fear made Sehun panic and he considered talking to his parents about this again. He was sure he could find a way to avoid ruining your delicate skin with black ink.

“You’re still part of the family, with or without the tattoo,” he told you, even though you were already sitting in the chair, desperately trying to calm yourself down.

Taking a deep breath, you gave him an encouraging look. “I know. But I want you to do this.”

Nodding, Sehun grabbed the needle with a lot more confidence.

As he watched the symbol of his family come to life on your wrist, he couldn’t help but think about the sacrifice you were making. You were basically confirming that you’ll stay a part of his family for the rest of your life, forgetting every other relationship that ever tied you to your own family.

Sehun knew you must have realized that this symbol would mark you as the property of his family, and he had so much admiration for you for doing this.

Then, once he finished the tattoo and looked at it, thoughts about future clouded his head. You and him celebrating your first anniversary. You and him moving out of the family house to live together. You and him having children and actually feeling like a family. You and him together… for the rest of your lives.

And he raised his head from your tattoo to give you a smile.

He didn’t like you anymore. He _loved_ you.


End file.
